About “Zinc Visits the Gallery”
Note: This post contains forward looking statements and contains spoilers of future blog posts. The featured image for this post is a 1927 painting by Paul Kee “The Bounds of the Intellect”.
“Zinc” is the protagonist in a series of occasional short stories posted in my blog.
The purpose of “Zinc Visits the Gallery” is to flesh out Zinc as a character. In the initial couple of short stories, Zinc’s personality and background have been alluded to but the narrative has never clearly defined him as a person.
In this story the method is still anecdotal. As in earlier stories, Zinc finds himself in a strange situation that leaves more questions asked than answered. The difference is that instead of Zinc being tangentially involved he is front and center in this plot.
Intentionally, but with mysterious motives, Zinc’s friend from college, who remains unnamed for now, has designed a series of puzzling art displays specifically for the purpose of invoking certain reactions from Zinc. These reactions demonstrate a pattern of behaviour and establish a model for understanding Zinc, much like seeing a person in a public or work environment helps understand their true personality.
For this characterization ploy to work, Zinc needs to express visceral and emotional feelings. Zinc needs to be disturbed by what he sees, hears, feels in the Gallery. The Gallery, on its part, needs to submerge Zinc into experiences that are first, totally outside of the realm of his day to day life and second, challenge Zinc’s historically intellectual approach to problem understanding and problem solving. The artifacts need to draw Zinc into situations where his rational consciousness does not help him resolve the conflict in which he finds himself.
The first artifact is a figurine that is not decisively either a living human being or a very convincing reproduction. Furthermore, the body, posed with outstretched hand and imploring facial expression, is so authentic and so compelling that Zinc can not help but be challenged by an unspoken demand for his engagement into some vague challenge.
The bizarre figure, of human scale and shape but non-human outward appearance is representational of all of humanity much like the Statue of Liberty is a model of America’s all embracing society.
While still trying to come to terms with the actual makeup of what he is seeing, Zinc simultaneously finds himself in the unfamiliar position of acknowledging and defending a basic cynicism of the worlds problems. This conflict of senses provokes a very uncharacteristic outburst directed at what is likely an inanimate object after which Zinc flees the viewing platform down a darkened labyrinth of hallways still in a state of agitation. The first artifact has served it’s purpose.
Coming soon….Zinc Visits the Gallery.
